A serious post for once. (I know, I’ll try not to let it happen again)
It’s been nearly 12 hours since I first read this post about a Nashville blogger’s bad experience with the employment agency JL Kirk & Associates. And since then I’ve been trying to figure out what my voice in the matter would be.
Kat Coble’s husband was contacted by JL Kirk & Associates with the potential for work. Getting down to brass tacks, the agency (after several email correspondence and two official interviews) informed him that they could help him in his quest for a job–for an upfront, non-refundable fee of over $4,000. This fee structure is supposedly based on the fact that the hiring company (who is traditionally the one to foot the headhunting fee) will often compensate for fee by reducing your starting salary. Apparently if you (the employee) pays the headhunting fee, it makes the offer (of your services) more attractive to the hiring company and in turn they’re more likely to start you at a higher salary. Kat took issue with this (and other strategies used by JL & Kirk Associates) and posted about it on her blog as a red flag to other folks.
Now the folks at JL Kirk & Associates are threatening to file suit against her unless she takes the post and any related threads/comments down, which I think is simply outrageous.
I am bringing this up, not to discuss the boundaries of the First Amendment (for there are FAR smarter and better people addressing this than me [click here and here for some mighty fine lists of who all is writing about this]), but to touch on what seems to me to be a scam.
As for me personally, I am a freelancer. I have secured employment through placement agencies. And as a manager I also used several different employment agencies to fill positions in my department. At no time did the company that I worked for ever compensate for the expense of using a headhunter by reducing the salary of the new employee. The salary we offered prospective employees was the same for those who we found through agencies, or for those who found us directly.
For those of you who are not familiar with how employment agencies work, basically, companies use placement agencies to do an initial screening of prospective employees. For freelancers/Hourly rate employees: if you sign on with an employment agency they will ask you what your hourly rate is (ie, $25/hr). They will in turn charge their client a higher rate (ie, $50/hour) and therefore receive payment for their service (which is to hook you up with gainful employment). For headhunting services/direct hire: if the client wants to hire you as a full-time staff member (or buy out your freelance contract) the employment agency will charge them a percentage of your starting salary (ie, 20%) as compensation for their services (to hook them up with reliable staff members).
Obviously there are exceptions to every rule and each company works a little different than the next. However, given my past experiences, I believe that this particularly agency is running a dodgy setup. Even if it is the practice of some agencies to receive their commission from the employee rather than the employer, I find it fishy that it would be an upfront, non-refundable fee. Personally, I would never trust a set up like this, especially because there are thousands of employment agencies out there that would NOT charge the fee to the little guy.
There are a few other reasons that I find the actions of JL Kirk & Associates suspect. On the second interview requesting that Kat’s husband (the guy who was actually being interviewed) to bring his wife. If you find yourself in a similar situation you really need to ask yourself why ANY employer would request this. If any company is requesting a large amount of money to try to get you hired; you sure as hell better clear it with your spouse. I can almost guarantee that if that spouse isn’t present during this “interview” process it’s almost certain their response is going to be “are you out of your MIND?!” Secondly, the woman who conducted the interview took Kat’s “libelous remarks” into her own hands and posted a scathing response to Kat’s post. Having been a manager at a pretty damn big company, you don’t EVER say anything with or regarding legal implications without legal backing first. To me it just seems like a rookie mistake that’s likely to blow up in their faces.
Now, we’re all adults (of course unless I have minors reading this) and therefore I believe that we are all capable of making our own decisions. But it is my personal belief that no one should ever pay someone else upfront to get them a job. I know that it’s a very competitive market out there and a lot of us are willing to do whatever is necessary to have the upper hand on the competition, but there are better ways to do this.
If you choose to use an employment agency to find work use more than one at the same time, you are not being a traitor if you sign up with 5 agencies. A good agency will not charge you an upfront cost. Every agency I have ever worked with has always offered additional skill training, resume improvement services, interviewing tips and stressed the importance of good hygiene for FREE because it is in their best interest to get you hired.
Filed under: A soapbox so high that I can't get down, Crazy-ass theories
Awesome post (applause). And yep, this situation certainly something the cats (and every blogger and every other person in the world who is active on the Internet) should be demanding answers to.
(PS – I love your “A soapbox so high that I can’t get down” category – tee hee.) :)
[...] SaucyGirl – The Cats Demand Answers [...]
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Thanks Lynnster. I’ll tell ya, if my cats ever found out that I spent $4000 trying to get a job instead of putting that money toward kibble, they’d be mighty pissed (literally, they pee on the bed when they’re angry).
Seriously though, people need to know that what these people are doing is just not the norm and that there are better options out there for them.
I am at a clients thru an agency that I thought was making about 25% on me which I sucked up at the time as they found me the gig etc. but now have come to find they are making 40% on every $ I make and I get 60% . I am not ok with that.
I fill in timesheets and use my EIN but I have heard that this maybe illegal and now I want to break the contract and work directly with the client. My client knows what is going on and is upset and says they will put pressure on the agency to pay me more. Any advice?
Hi KCH, before I answer I’m not clear on what you think is illegal… is it the use of your EIN or the 40% fee?
the EIN… I know the 40% is their markup which is scandelous. I understand from other recruiters there are rules about use of EIN and can only be used as a consultant not a temp worker… which is not what has been happening.
Hmm… that might be true, but I’ve always been given the option of using an EIN instead of a SS#. To be honest I don’t know if that’s illegal or not.
My advice would be to check your contract. As far as I understand there are two ways to break it. One is to have your client buy your contract out from the temp agency and then they’ll be paying you directly. Two is that you would have to stop working there XX number of days (I think it’s 60 – 90 days) before you could legally be picked up by that client again as a freelancer.
The fee is unfortunate but not unheard of especially in NYC. A good agency will pay you as much as they can, a greedy one will take advantage of the situation.
I’m not sure if having the client pressure the agency will get you much of anywhere. I can see it going two ways:
1. the client will tell them they want you to get a raise, but that’s likely going to result in the agency charging your client more to cover the cost of the raise–plus the inflation for their cut.
2. if your client isn’t OK with the raised rate and tell the agency to take a cut out of their profits, the agency is probably going be annoyed that you were discussing wages with the client which is a no-no and might even be listed somewhere in your contract as such. This will put you on poor standing with the agency.
Now, if you talk to the agency directly and say I’ve been gainfully employed by this client for 3 months (or however long you’ve been there) and I would like a raise, they’ll probably be more receptive. It’s not unusual for an employee to go directly to the agency and as for a raise in pay rate. They’ll probably say “We have to consult with the client first” but it usually ends up with a raise for you without the client being charged extra or even being informed that you got a raise at all.
I would avoid confronting the agency about their 40% cut. My feelings are that it won’t get you the outcome you want.